For 21 years I have been working as an executive search consultant. Over the last several years, I also have traveled the world as a speaker, interacting with leaders and executives in corporate settings and students and academics at some of the world's leading business schools. Most recently I have become increasingly worried and puzzled by the general lack of basic knowledge that leaders at all levels have about the importance, difficulty, and ways to master our people decisions.

At the same time, I am convinced that we can make our world a much better place: through great people decisions, we can help improve how we get the right people into the right places, in all types of organizations in all parts of the world, and at all levels-but particularly at the top.

For all of these reasons I decided to write a much needed book on this crucial topic. Conceptually sound and comprehensive, yet practical and accessible, Great People Decisions has been strongly endorsed by such leading experts in this field, including Jim Kouzes, Jack Welch, Jim Collins, and Daniel Goleman.

This is what Jim Kouzes has said about Great People Decisions:
"Reading this book is guaranteed to change the way you select, develop, reward, and retain talent. With startling statistics, persuasive prose, and extensive examples from real-world experience, Claudio Fernandez Araoz shows why it's absolutely essential to significantly improve how we make people decisions. It's a groundbreaking, myth-busting, and standard-setting work. Claudio's unique global perspective, extensive experience, rigorous research, and feet-on-the-ground style make him the most well-qualified writer on this subject to date. Great People Decisions is not just a comprehensive toolkit for managers, as Claudio promises, it's the whole repair shop. To prepare yourself for the dramatic workforce changes that are expected in the next decade, the first thing you should do is read this book The second thing you should do is to put Claudio's advice into practice . . . immediately."

Claudio Fernandez Araoz is a partner and member of the global executive committee in the leading executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, where he has spent more than twenty years filling executive positions in major businesses throughout the world.